Gatorade and iced tea weighed on Scott Shedlock’s mind Thursday afternoon as he reviewed new United States Department of Agriculture interim rules limiting calories, sodium, fat and sugar in snacks and beverages in schools.

Shedlock, food service coordinator for Northern York County School District, had a “pretty good feeling” the popular sellers exceeded the calorie limits in the regulations set to go into effect July 1, 2014.

Jeff Stehr, 18 grabs a soda from one of the vending machines at Cedar Crest High School in 2007. High-calorie drinks and snacks will be prohibited at schools by July 2014, according to interim nutrition regulations released Thursday by the United States Department of Agriculture.Joe Hermitt | PennLive.com, file

The standards focus on providing healthier snack foods to students and limiting junk food, according to the USDA. For example, snacks will be limited to 200 calories and 230 mg of sodium, with that being reduced to 200 mg of sodium by July 1, 2016.

As he reviewed the interim regulations — which people can comment on through Oct. 28 during a formal 120-day public comment period — Shedlock said his school district already had made some of the outlined changes. A lot of the school district’s snack items already meet the calorie count limits.

Northern York County School District has changed its lunches and breakfasts to fit requirements in place for the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, such as those involving whole-grain items.

At this point, it’s a “matter of taking away popular items,” Shedlock said. And that could impact revenues at the school district.

If students can’t buy those popular items at school, they’ll just bring them in from home or pick them up on the way to school, Shedlock said. He plans to look into alternatives students will like to keep up those revenues.

Lee Ann Hocker, director of food services at Susquehanna Township School District, hadn’t had a chance to read through the interim requirements. She had been aware the USDA was in the process of changing the USDA nutritional guidelines for a la carte items, and she believes whole grain cookies at the district likely meet the new requirements.

The school district, however, is waiting for direction from the state Department of Education regarding the new nutrition guidelines and how to implement them, Hocker said.

Tim Eller, spokesman for the state Department of Education, said in an email the department is reviewing the regulations and “assessing how they will be implemented in schools.”

Schools have made “tremendous strides in providing healthier foods and beverages to students” over the last several years, Eller said. The department will work with schools to make sure they’re prepared to put into place the regulations by the July 1, 2014 deadline.

Derry Township School District has been tweaking its menus and meeting federal nutrition requirements, but interim regulations released Thursday “takes it much further,” said Greg Hummel, the district’s director of food service.

While former regulations impacted complete meals at schools, these have to do with all other food sold at schools, Hummel said.

The interim regulations will minimally impact school districts with higher free and reduced lunch populations since they mainly focus on complete meals, which already are facing regulations through the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, Hummel said.

Schools with lower free and reduced lunch populations, like Derry Township School District, that offer a wider variety of food options will have to pay close attention to the changes, Hummel said.

Hummel said he still had to read through the interim regulations to assess the total impact to Derry Township schools, but he already spotted some changes on the horizon.

Some of the school district’s snacks, like honey braided, whole-wheat pretzels and Chex mix, are slightly above the 200-calorie limit, Hummel said.

Still, putting out regulation changes isn’t enough. Schools also need to expose students to healthy foods and teach them about nutritious eating so they can establish those habits, Hummel said.

Derry Township schools use sampling events to expose students to different foods. They also do nutrition education and try to teach students to watch things like fried food and increase the amount of fruits and veggies they eat.

School districts can put out all the healthy food in the world, but without educating students and making them accustomed to those foods, they won’t eat them, Hummel said.

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